Level Up: Harnessing Narrative Videogames for Interactive Teaching in the Language Classroom
Join the Autumn 2026 CLLC Pedagogy Advancement Series for a workshop with Eric Johnson, Associated Faculty in the Department of French and Italian.
Abstract
Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) video games offer rich, multimodal environments for second language acquisition, yet integrating them into the language classroom often presents logistical challenges around equipment, student tech-literacy, and individualized gameplay. This interactive presentation introduces a whole-class model for digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) that would allow instructors to avoid such challenges. Through teacher-led interactive gaming sessions projected for the entire class, instructors can harness the rich narrative, visual semiotics, and interactive mechanics of COTS games to create immersive, experience-driven language learning opportunities for their classes.
Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural theory, this presentation demonstrates how an instructor can navigate the game environment while facilitating real-time negotiation, collective decision-making, and target-language interaction. Using the game Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, participants will explore how in-game elements—such as environmental exploration, interactive mechanics, visually rich environments, and authentic character dialogue—serve as natural catalysts for meaningful communication, vocabulary acquisition, and willingness to communicate. To prevent cognitive overload and maintain pedagogical focus during collective play, the presentation highlights the use of structured worksheets as essential mediating tools. These guided materials direct student attention toward key linguistic structures, plot developments, visual cues, and interactive tasks, ensuring that immersive gameplay directly aligns with specific learning objectives.
Attendees will participate in a live demonstration of a whole-class gameplay session, experiencing firsthand how to lead collective decision-making and manage dynamic language mediation from the main display. Following the demonstration, there will be a discussion of the materials (the game and the worksheet) and the teaching methodology used so that presentation participants can feel both ready and inspired to try a DBGLL experience in their own respective language classes.
